Philosophy of Teaching

Today’s classroom is an industrial complex, in that it is productive geography where knowledge is produced for the market. These changes have a substantial impact on learners and educators in terms of co-participation and creation of knowledge. These changes coupled with a shrinking globe places a lot of pressure on educational stakeholders. This also has effects to a shrinking curriculum that must work with the vibrant learners and educators in terms of re-orienting the politics of the classroom. This are simple but compounded issues facing a neoliberal classroom who existences is under worldly pressures of migration. How does one make sense of a multicultural classroom? To stay afloat an educator must invest on the ‘village’ teaching philosophy that borrows from the anti-oppressive practice and social justice education. Anti-oppressive education is action oriented and invested in everyday experiences of communities. An Anti-oppressive/Social justice education celebrates the strengths of learners and educator as key in co-creation of knowledge. It facilitates co-production of knowledge, in ways that allows diverse thinking and praxis. While the class may be oriented by the curriculum, educators and students learn to trouble the settlement and arrivals of teachable in ways that re-organizes the classroom for new possibilities and futurity. For the class to allow these possibilities, it is imperative to trouble the curriculum in ways that develop and implement conscious multiculturalism. Learning should be student led and multicentric to allow different voices to inform and recalibrate learning and teaching. As an educator, present a skeleton work plan (syllabus) to the class and after every semester, students come to express what worked and did not work for them. This student inputs can inform subsequent syllabus, thus strengthening teaching and learning. It is imperative to Pose critical questions and allowing students to contribute in ways that speak to their lived experiences. This allows vibrant critical understanding of class material to both the learner and the educator. In such an environment, students learn to accommodate each other views hence enhancing collegiality and appreciating the importance of community learning. An educator provides a theoretical base and student’s experiences inform it. A classroom should be viewed as a community of learners. Everybody in a class should share themselves to make sense of theory. An active anti-oppressive instruction should identify micro/macro-aggression.